Responsible social media—3 ways brands can be the voices of reason

There’s a saying in the sports world—losing the locker room—that gives even the most seasoned head coach chills, because it means the coach has lost the trust and belief of players and staff. Once you’ve lost the locker room, there’s no coming back. It’s the proverbial kiss of death.

We’re watching, in real time, Elon Musk lose the Twitter locker room on a global scale. More broadly, if heads of social media platforms won’t set the standard on what responsible use of social media looks like, then it’s time for the business leaders and brands that populate their channels to set the tone and be the voices of reason.

Content moderation and brand safety have been hot-button issues since the inception of social media and took a lion’s share of a recent Elon Musk’s Twitter Spaces. It’s an incredibly complex topic with far-reaching implications, and brand leaders are fed up with the band-aid solutions they’ve been given. Ad sales make up 90% of Twitter’s overall revenue, which means brands have a huge amount of power to influence positive change on social media. It’s time for business leaders across industries to be the voice of reason on responsible platform behavior.

Here are three ways brands can make an impact:

Overhaul your approach to social media

Begin setting the example from within your business. Patagonia does a fantastic job at this. Its content isn’t fluff—it’s directly related to the work it does to help make the world a better place, and it highlights real examples from within the company to showcase what doing good looks like.

Company social media channels are an extension of a brand, and social media often establishes how consumers perceive it. Work with your employees to develop a social media ethics playbook. And make it detailed. Show positive and negative behaviors using real-life examples, work with your creative team on developing a clear brand tone/voice, collaborate with your executive staff to form a perspective on content for your company, be clear with what you will and won’t tolerate and empower staff at all levels to contribute.

Listening is vital. Hold recurring all-hands meetings where you and your staff discuss the latest happenings in social media and allow your staff to bring up examples of topics they believe the company should address. Be transparent, ask them questions and give them the power to aid in navigating your brand on social media. Form a social media steering committee consisting of a diverse array of employees, with the goal being to sustain and scale your business position as leaders. This committee will be the executive team’s eyes and ears on what to do and, sometimes more importantly, what not to do, on social media. Not only will you get new, thoughtful perspectives, but your staff will feel empowered as the ones guiding the company.

Use your personal platform to push for change

It’s one thing to read a press release from a brand condemning immoral behavior; it’s another to see someone’s face and read their words. It’s a level of humanity that will never translate from the brand side. If you don’t have your own social media channels, get them and use them. Now is not the time to be silent. Use your platform to be a voice and leader in the discussion.

If you choose to go down this path, you must approach it with an open mind and an open heart. Be authentic, thoughtful and always have context on what you’re speaking on. You can start small by keeping an eye on the trending topics sections of LinkedIn and Twitter.

Ensure your brand adheres to guidelines your company developed. Empower the steering committee to conduct social audits and to poll staff on how they feel about the direction. Show with your brand’s actions what it looks like to take the moral high ground. Lead with empathy, don’t allow your brand to participate in unsavory platform behavior and celebrate the content that does good in the social space.

Join forces with other business leaders

Your brand holds power, but brands united under one cause hold immeasurable power. There is strength in numbers. Form social good committees with other leaders in your industry and drive the conversation around ethics in social media. Engage with the people who have views you respect in a public way.

When you headline your next keynote, discuss the impact social media has and give your transparent point of view on the subject. Show that you won’t tolerate hate speech and an unsafe environment by keeping it top of mind with your audience. The scariest monsters are the ones we don’t see, make sure you put this in front of as many people as possible.

We find ourselves at a crossroads where a platform that’s been vital in democratizing reach is on the brink of destruction. Elon’s locker room seems to be waning, but you have a unique opportunity to unite yours, making it stronger and more impactful than ever.